Q1 retail sales climb 2.9% at apparel marketer Tom Tailor

17 Apr '15

3 min read

Retail sales at German apparel marketer Tom Tailor Group climbed 2.9 per cent year over year to €131.3 million in the first quarter of 2015, driven by sales at its Bonita brand.

“In addition, the Tom Tailor brand too benefited from robust e-commerce demand in March,” Tom Tailor Group said in a press release.

On a like-for-like basis, Tom Tailor Group posted a sales increase of 1.8 per cent and in the process outperformed the German textile market, which suffered a 5 per cent sales drop in the first quarter.

However, for the Tom Tailor brand, the weaker trend in retail in the fourth quarter of 2014 carried over to the beginning of the year although an upward movement was seen in March.

“The positive performance of Tom Tailor brand in retail in March could however not fully offset the weaker sales in the previous months,” the apparel marketer added.

The retail business closed the first quarter with a 0.5 per cent decline in sales, while on a like-for-like basis, the decline was higher at 4.6 per cent from the same quarter of previous year.

Bonita brand however showed a highly satisfactory trend in the first quarter of 2015 and sales rose by 5.8 per cent as compared to the prior-year quarter and grew at 7.4 per cent on a like-for-like basis.

“Factors behind this trend were the positive effects of the improved design and product quality, the shorter procurement times and targeted promotions in January,” it explained.

“This resulted in a gross profit margin of 65.6 per cent in the first quarter of 2014, which although was below the previous year's level at 69.3 per cent.

"Tom Tailor Group stood out positively with its results in the retail segment despite the subdued market development and grew in the first quarter on a like-for-like basis,” CEO Dieter Holzer said.

"The favourable development at Bonita shows that our strategic and operational measures are paying off, and that Bonita is back on track for sustainable growth," he too added.

Tom Tailor Group is an international fashion and lifestyle company offering fashionable casual wear and accessories in the medium price range under various brands.

The collections are aimed at customers aged between 0 and 40 and are marketed in more than 35 countries via its wholesale and retail segments.

Bonita, one of Germany's leading fashion brand producers and retailers, has been part of the Tom Tailor Group since August 2012 and sells women's and men's wear collections for the over 40 age group.

The Group operates 1,402 of its own stores as of March 2015. 1,014 of these are of Bonita and 388 are Tom Tailor stores.

The Tom Tailor brand is also sold via wholesale partners and also through 206 franchise stores, 2,722 shop-in-shops and around 9,800 multi-label points of sale. (AR)

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